Strangers save puppies’ mother after she is trapped under steel beams

HEBER CITY, Utah — A group of strangers came together to help rescue a dog trapped under some steel beams.

Somehow, “Cookie” found herself in that tight spot at the Wasatch County Event Center and could not get out.

Kylie Butler was attending the fair with her family when she heard the dog’s barks for help.

“It was more of a high pitched bark trying to get somebody’s attention,” Butler said.

Butler trusted her instinct that something was wrong and searched for the source of that distressed sound.

“I come over here and I’m like, 'Where is this barking coming from?'" Butler said. “I just happened to look underneath and I see this little nose. I didn’t know what it was at that point.”

That nose belonged to “Cookie” who was under those beams for 10 hours, mostly during the intense heat of the warm summer day.

“I reached down, I would give her a granola bar. She’d eat it right up,” Butler said.

Butler was unable to remove the beam on her own, so she called for help.

“My mom works at the Sheriff’s office and she had the inmates out on her crew cleaning,” Butler described. “She showed up with her inmate crews and these inmates were digging like crazy. They were so bound and determined to do it.”

But that crew of 6 female inmates couldn’t set Cookie free.

A tractor with a forklift eventually got the job done moments later.

“That thing lifted, that dog came running out,” Butler said. “She was so happy, she jumped into the van with the inmates in the driver’s seat. She was ready to go.”

Cookie was reunited with her owners who were frantically searching for her for hours. She was also reunited with the nine puppies she gave birth to just a couple of weeks ago.

This story is one with a happy ending thanks to the kindness of strangers.

“I wasn’t leaving until the dog was out,” Butler said. “I’m just glad the community came together to help each other out.”